In late June What Now Atlanta (WNA) reported that the signpost in front of the old Cape Dutch location had a new sign: Tribeca Restaurant and Bar. We now know the man behind the restaurant is Chef Joshua Fryer.
Fryer’s extensive resume documents his rise in the culinary industry in Atlanta. After taking a job at the Ritz Carlton in Lake Oconee in 2015, Fryer transferred to the AG in the Ritz Carlton Atlanta a year later, working as the chef de cuisine. From there, he became a banquet chef at the Four Seasons in Midtown and eventually the head chef at Bar Margot before deciding to open his restaurant.
Named after the New York neighborhood, Tribeca hopes to combine great food and great atmosphere under one roof. Fryer said he wants to“bring a lot more people together and have a really good vibe for whether you want to just get some drinks or you want to come and have great food.”
Opening Tribeca has been a two-year process for Fryer, most of which was spent finding the perfect space. That two-year search led Fryer to the 5,500-square-foot space off Cheshire Bridge Road. “I really do believe this is the perfect area for me to really showcase what I’m about and what I’m able to do,” Fryer said in an interview with WNA.
Fryer’s focus with Tribeca is on tapas-style dining. Its menu will prominently feature smaller plates that guests will share. However, larger entrees will be available.
“The fine dining models are kind of going out, and we’re going towards more European styles where we’re just going to share food now,” Fryer said. “That was the main thought behind this place in general, was just to have those nice, sharale items. So people could come in and have a great experience, as opposed to having that ‘we’ve got to make reservations and sit down, and we’re going to be here for four hours.”
Though the dining format is inspired by Spanish cuisine, Fryer is focused on serving American comfort dishes on a seasonal basis.“[We] really want the food to be approachable by anyone, but really showcase some different flavors and different things that you’re not really going to expect to see in our menu,” Fryer said.
Fryer has installed a wood-fire grill in the restaurant to help bring some of those new flavors to his guests in some bigger entrees. “Being able to cook over multiple different types of woods or charcoal, just to give different flavor contrasts, is really going to take that to the next level for me,” Fryer said.
Giving guests a different experience with his food, Fryer also hopes to do the same with the cocktail program Tribeca will feature.
“It’s not just typical, here’s an Old Fashioned. It may have some sort of spin on an Old Fashioned,” he said. “I’m really trying to play on going up and down with the food and the drinks and really trying to pair them so they actually go well together.”
Evident in both his “something familiar, something new” approach and his inclusion of smaller plates and bigger entrees, Fryer wants Tribeca to be the best of all worlds. This also shows in how he wants Tribeca to fit into the community he’s operating in.
“That’s really my biggest plan, is like I want people from here as well as all over Atlanta to be able to come,” he said. “Come on in. We’ll feed everyone.”
